Subject: bug#6897: date -d '1991-04-14 +1 day' fails

From: Paul Eggert <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:26:05 -0700

On 08/23/2010 02:59 PM, Alan Curry wrote:
> date: invalid date `4/14/1991'
>
> which is a lie. 4/14/1991 is not an invalid date.

It is an invalid date, under the assumption
that dates without times refer to the time 00:00:00
on that date.  This assumption has been in the software
for ages, and explains, for example, why
"date -d '2010-01-01 25 hours'" reports 01:00 the
next day.  No doubt this could all be better documented,
but there's nothing unreasonable per se about the
assumption.

 > Bonus thought: the "date" command is misnamed.

"time" was taken.  At this late date (:-) it's not
likely that the names will be changed.